A person’s temperament can have impact on his or her physical health. According to Stephen Boyle of Duke University Medical Center, “The idea that behavior or personality traits can influence health is one that’s been around for a long time. We’re just now getting a handle on to what extent they do.” Fact is mental health affects physical health. There are deadly mental attitudes that impact a person’s state of bodily health.

Cynicism, the tendency to be suspicious and mistrustful of others, increases the risk of developing heart disease in a person. Hostile individuals tend to be under more stress, and this in turn ‘can cause spikes in an immune-system protein called C3 that has been linked with various diseases, including diabetes.’

A person who lacks a sense of purpose or meaning in life has his physical health in danger. On the other hand, purposeful and motivated individuals ‘readily derive meaning from and make sense of the events of their lives, and likely engage in behaviors and activities that they deem important.’

Fretful people who are constantly worried and anxious are said to be highly-neurotic, and are prone to depression. Also, they have most likely taken up the destructive habit of smoking.

Those who are more conscientious, organized, and self-disciplined live longer than those who lack self-control and are impulsive. Conscientious individuals are less likely to smoke, drink, or lead stressful lives.

Anxiety kills, literally. The risk of dementia was found to be 50 percent lower for calm people with mellow demeanor than with those who are frazzled and prone to distress. Dementia can be caused by Alzheimer’s disease and other illnesses.

People ‘suffering from peripheral arterial disease (plaque buildup in the arteries) with so-called type D, or distressed, personality, have increased odds of dying sooner than other people. Type-D people are more likely to experience negative emotions while at the same time hold in their feelings.’ These are the gloomy and inhibited people who always doom themselves to doom.

Highly-stressed people are ‘nearly twice as likely as others to develop type 2 diabetes, in which a person’s body becomes resistant to the sugar-regulating hormone called insulin.’ They are under severe mental strain.

Via Live Science